Rapid Fire 2011-12-06: Ramping Up USN Biofuel Tests

Syria gets its shore batteries of 72 supersonic P-800/SS-N-26 Yakhont missiles, in the midst of a growing civil war with demonstrators and a Turkish-supported Free Syrian Army. Maybe introducing the missiles wasn’t the best idea right now? And maybe supporting the Kurdish PKK wasn’t Syria’s best idea ever?

Bangladesh inaugurates its new Chinese HQ-7/FM90 short range air defense missiles at Kurmitola Air Base. The MBDA Crotale knockoff is a first for Bangladesh. Not the first Chinese weapons, the 1st surface-to-air missiles.

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed a contract to purchase 450,000 gallons of biofuel made from used cooking oil and algae. The fuel will be used by the US Navy. next summer during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). The biofuel is “drop in“, which means engines can use it without modifications, and it will be mixed with aviation gas or marine diesel fuel.

Fuel is expensive not just to consume, but also to deliver. Up to $400 a gallon in Afghanistan says the WSJ, once you factor in airdrops and parachutes that don’t open.

Speaking of which, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank released a policy brief [PDF] advocating a change of mission in Afghanistan.

Cambridge Design Partnership and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (DSTL) Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) won this year’s Engineer Technology and Innovation Awards in the UK for an oxygen concentrator powered by a micro-diesel engine rather than a heavy battery. The idea is to produce a lighter device so that oxygen can more readily be administered to soldiers wounded in the field.

Lockheed Martin signs a mentor-protege agreement with Chicago’s Sciacky, in partnership with Morehouse College and the University of Texas at El Paso. Sciacky has a unique “Electron Beam Direct Manufacturing” (material printing) technology. Direct/Additive manufacturing can make parts to any configuration, with near-zero waste and little finishing; Lockheed thinks it may have a future for the F-35’s hard-to-make titanium parts. See video below: